Modern numerical controllers contain diagnostic modules, i.e., permanent or specially activatable monitoring functions for machine and control responses for the purpose of automatically documenting and displaying alarms, messages about operating states and the causes thereof. To this end, the numerical controller's display device can show an image of the relevant measured values as a curve, a graph and the like, or the diagnostic results can of course be displayed alphanumerically. Alternatively, such data can be output via interfaces, which allows remote diagnosis (see, e.g., Hans B. Kief “NC/CNC Handbuch” 1995/96, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Vienna, page 58).
It is also convention to forward reportable operating states in the context of programmable logic controllers. In this case, previously defined alerting and escalation strategies can be used to call a predefined group of persons automatically and to inform this group of persons about the necessary actions to be taken, using textual displays and voice announcements (see, e.g., Special tooling 6/99, page 60 ff. “Hier spricht ihre Steuerung”).
In both cases, however, simple configuration of which receivers are to be informed about alarms and/or messages to which depth of information is neither known nor disclosed.